How to Get the Most Out of Your Dietitian

Unless you have specific health issues or you’re looking for help with a particular diet plan, you may not have thought about contacting a dietitian. After all, how difficult can it really be to start eating healthy on your own? While it is possible to do so, you can miss out on getting interesting insights into your specific health needs without a dietitian.

Working with a dietitian is always helpful, whether you’re trying to lose weight, optimize your health, address unhealthy habits, or figure out why you’re getting specific cravings. Not everyone reacts the same way to food, so zeroing in on the best eating approach is challenging without knowing exactly how your body will respond to ‘healthy foods.’

A Dietitian Can Help You Curate the Perfect Health Plan for You

There’s a lot of nutrition information out there, but can you trust it all? Even if you’re going so far as to browse through one study after another, it can be overwhelming trying to figure it all out by yourself. Since dietitians are credentialed professionals, they can help tailor your health plans to suit your body’s needs.

Take using a continuous glucose monitor to track your health data as an example. Sure, you can buy a monitor and start reading the data yourself. But wouldn’t it be better if you had an expert to guide you through all the data? That’s why our Nutrisense programs come with helpful advice from a registered dietitian. They work with you to find an ideal diet, provide accountability, decode data, and help you understand what your glucose numbers really mean. They can also help you create gradual, realistic habits to help you reach your goals.

However, even with a dietitian, you need to make sure you’re doing your part to get the insights and clarity you need to optimize your health. Make sure you work with the right dietitian for your needs, and don’t be afraid to ask a ton of questions, check credentials and go over your goals before you commit to one. Read on to see what to expect, what questions to ask, and how to get the most out of your Nutrisense dietitian.

Do You Really Need a Dietitian?

If we haven’t already convinced you to look to a dietitian for your health needs, here are a few more reasons it’s a good idea:

• You’ll get an accountability partner that checks in on your goals and progress.
• You’ll have someone to coach and guide you towards your goals.
• When you feel overwhelmed or confused by conflicting health and nutrition advice, your dietitian can be a voice you trust to sort through all of it with you.
• A dietitian is perfect for you if you value personalized nutrition and want a solution that meets your individual needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
• With a dietitian, you’ll get long-term, realistic approaches to health, with a focus on gradual adjustments to nutrition and other lifestyle factors.
• Not only will you get tailored tips to optimize your diet, but you also get a helping hand with your other goals. Whether you need to lose weight, address insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, or just want to improve longevity, your dietitian can help.
  

What to Expect From Your Dietitian 

Once you have a good idea of what to expect from a dietitian, it will become easier to finalize your goals and work towards improving your health. Here are a few things you can expect from your journey and what questions you can ask along the way.

You Can Experiment With Diets and Food Responses

Have you ever wondered what your glucose response is like after your favorite meal or dessert? You’ll be able to experiment with different carbohydrate foods (fruits, vegetables, grains). You can also try out fasting regimes, meal pairing, and meal timing, natural vs. processed foods—the list is endless! The best part about this is that you can learn how to keep the foods you enjoy in your diet while optimizing your glucose data at the same time.

Discuss this: Ask for tips on how to conduct an experiment with your favorite meal or snack. You may want to experiment with different dietary approaches to optimize exercise performance or do some tests with your dinner to improve overnight glucose values. You can try various experiments, and your dietitian can help you plan and execute them! You can also get suggestions to improve your glucose response to a particular food and experiment with those strategies to see how your glucose values change as a result.

You Can Discover Meal Options That Fit Your Metabolism

With a dietitian, you’ll get tailored, personalized feedback to help tweak your meals. This can help mitigate a glucose spike and boost overall energy levels throughout the day. You’ll also get individualized feedback to help improve your metabolic health and achieve other health goals like weight loss, improving your sleep, and so on.

Discuss this: Ask for tailored meal suggestions from your dietitian to help boost your meal responses. You can also ask for tips to fine-tune your macro or micronutrient profile based on your results—and if you’re not sure what this is yet, ask your dietitian to explain it.

You'll be Able to Interpret Your Body’s Data

With a dietitian by your side, you can learn to interpret what your body’s data is telling you. Your glucose trends can give a glimpse into your metabolic health as a proxy for your insulin response. Your dietitian will be able to point out, explain and interpret these trends, so you know exactly what you’re looking at.

Discuss this: It’s a good idea to ask your dietitian how to improve a glucose response to your usual breakfast and how to optimize fasting glucose levels. You should also know how to reduce glycemic variability and ‘swings’ in your glucose, which can help with energy levels and weight loss. Another interesting question is about what you are observing with your glucose patterns—why did your glucose spike during your morning workout? Why did it drop after a cold shower?

You Can Create Healthy Habits

It’s essential to steer clear of fad diets—remember that there should be no one-size-fits-all approach to health and nutrition. Temporary, restrictive diets only provide temporary results. Instead, focus on creating healthy habits and lifestyle changes that will really stick. Your dietitian should be able to work with your unique needs. Keeping your preferences, barriers, and other lifestyle factors in mind, they will help you create sustainable, healthy habits.

Discuss this: Ask your dietitian to help you create weekly, manageable habits and track them to meet your health goals. An excellent way to do this is with a CGM and an app to record your results!

What Else Can I Get Out of a Dietitian Service?

Your dietitian is also trained to help you with other nutrition/health-related topics, so ask as many questions about as many things as you like. Some of the things you can work together on include: 

• Your performance and fitness goals, including when and how much you should work out. You can tailor this to your current health and future plans.
• A deeper nutritional assessment and optimizing nutrient intake. You can figure out things like what time of day you should be eating certain foods.
• You may have food sensitivities or intolerances—these can be surprising, as they can vary for everyone!
• More about your gut health, including what you should eat or avoid eating to nurture the gut and how it may be affecting your immunity.
• Cooking and recipe suggestions, including what food combinations work best for your specific needs.
• Help with managing diabetes, high blood pressure, or other chronic diseases.
• You can also review nutrition-related labs with your dietitian to see how your results may be affecting your nutrition goals.